Cotton is a key raw material for the textile industry. Various sustainability initiatives exist but many problems and challenges remain, and conventional cultivation often comes with serious environmental impacts and poor labour conditions. Although there is a significant amount of more sustainable cotton now available, accounting for around 13 per cent of global supply in 2015, less than one fifth of what is produced is actually being bought as more sustainable.

The report’s main conclusions:

No company achieved the maximum available score of 19.5 points, mainly because no company uses 100 per cent more sustainable cotton

Of the 37 companies evaluated, only eight scored three points or more

With a score of 12.0, IKEA Group is the best performing company as well as being the only company to rank in the green zone

C&A Global (9.0), H&M Group (9.0) and Adidas Group (7.75) follow in the yellow zone, while Nike (6.75), M&S (5.5), VF Corporation (3.25), and Kering (3.0) are in the orange zone

Another 17 companies scored less than three points

12 companies provided little or no information and therefore scored no points, all falling in the red zone